


A Cot Six Feet Under

by Owns_Books_I_Dont_Read



Category: Super Meat Boy (Video Game), Super Meat Boy Forever (Video Game)
Genre: Basically everything that happened in the two games are canon in the story, Fan Sequel, Gen, Happy Sugar Life inspired, Hey look some squirrels, It's Dr. Fetus so obviously he is gonna kidnap someone eventually, My First AO3 Post, Probably will edit these tags as I go along, Some mild violence so far, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28331193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owns_Books_I_Dont_Read/pseuds/Owns_Books_I_Dont_Read
Summary: Having grown attached to Nugget and being unable to let go, Dr. Fetus decides that it's time to fill that hole in his heart. But he won't be doing it in his usual approach.
Relationships: Dr. Fetus & Nugget, Meat Boy/Bandage Girl
Comments: 40
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The fuck am I doing with my life?

For the first time in his life, Dr. Fetus could acknowledge the beauty of a scenic view. It was night, the perfect time for a villain like himself, and the lack of nearby civilization made it the perfect place to stargaze on the tall piece of old machinery. In the corner of his eye, a small house is there; he would turn his head to stare at it from time to time. 

He knows perfectly well—despite never having been inside there in person—who lives there. Inside was a peaceful, nuclear family of literal cubes that called themselves Meat Boy, Bandage Girl, and Nugget. One would think that they would (and should) be moving away as fast as possible after the hell he had put them through, but that unfortunately wasn’t an option for the family. They would instantly be dubbed a “freak” by the outside world of humans and off-pinks, and they decided that a small forest full of rusty, broken saws was safer—especially since they were practically immortal. 

And unsurprisingly, even Nugget has recently shown this ability. Dr. Fetus had been stalking her and her parents since the last failed kidnapping attempt that happened over a year ago. He had secretly set up some cameras a while back to watch the family remotely, but he lately has been feeding his urge to watch them in person—he often found it more enjoyable that way. The family had cleared out a space for a garden, and one day, Nugget was there playing unsupervised. She was a toddler now and had escaped her cot while she was supposed to be taking a nap. He had been hiding behind some broken saws at the edge of the garden, watching curiously as Nugget went outside without either of her parents. 

The flowers being grown there have caught the attention of local butterflies, and Nugget would make sure to flip off every one of them. He snorted seeing this, as such a sight never failed to amuse him. Meat Boy and Bandage Girl have been trying to reprimand her for that, but she was as innocently rebellious as a teenager. The only thing they managed to accomplish trying to stop her was to teach her to do it in secret instead, becoming the first time she kept a secret from her parents. He wondered for a moment if he should call to her attention, but soon thrown away that idea in his mind—who knows when they may show up to ruin everything again. 

But she suddenly started to approach him, causing him to instinctively move sideways to where a saw completely obstructed the possibility of him being spotted while also blocking his own view. He heard her coming closer until he could hear her messing around with some vegetation that had grown around the old saw. Just like how she was forbidden from displaying her middle finger, going near those saws was a no-go. But no one was there to tell her what to do, so she pulled on the flowering vines as she pleased, while Dr. Fetus prayed that she wouldn’t suddenly see behind the saw. 

A vibration was felt from behind along with a sound similar to that of a drill. She had removed the plants impeding the saw from moving. He didn’t know whether he should be doing something about that; Nugget could get hurt, but there was always that risk of being seen. That suddenly didn’t matter now, as he spotted a few droplets of blood on the left side of his jar. He continued sitting there for another minute, eyes widened from complete shock. Then, a sound he never thought he would be grateful to hear: the strange, wet sound of meat forming from nothing. She had respawned! 

However, it was not an enjoyable experience for her. She started to cry, causing Dr. Fetus to feel guilty for both indirectly causing the trauma and for being unable to go comfort her. Of course, this alerted her parents to run into the garden. Dr. Fetus had already fled the scene by then, but had been able to review the rest of the scene with a camera placed in a nearby tree from the side of the garden. 

Bandage Girl ran out first, with Meat Boy arriving just seconds later. Bandage Girl had already taken Nugget away from the saw by the time her husband came and focused mainly on stopping her cries after that. Meanwhile, Meat Boy went up to the rapidly moving saw. First, he saw the vines on the ground that had been covering it before. Second, a horrific sight to see, blood and bits of Nugget’s previous body covering the saw. Being that Nugget was obviously okay, he wasn’t as startled as the unseen stalker. Bandage Girl had already taken their child inside and didn’t seem to notice what had really happened. After some thought, he decided not to tell her; it may just cause some unnecessary worry. He would just tell her it was his corpse if asked. 

That happened a week ago, and the only new thing Dr. Fetus observed since then was that was the efforts the couple has made to make the garden safer for Nugget. They have been trying to remove those saws to the best of their ability, but with little results due to how stubborn those damn saws are. Building a fence was out of the question, too. Now days, they have to practically hold her down in her cot to take a nap. She was already developing her inherited platform abilities, and that combined with her rebellious attitude made it the perfect recipe for trouble. 

Though they had struggles with their parenthood, Dr. Fetus could tell they were still a happy little family. He had spent so much time watching them that they were starting to show up in his dreams. There was this love-hate relationship he had with doing so; he felt jealousy, but also this sense of happiness whenever watching Nugget do whatever her little mind decided. She was even more of a joy to watch whenever she still showed signs of Dr. Fetus’ influence, whether it was approaching the saws again, even after getting hurt, flipping off butterflies, pretending that he’s there, or showing other signs of naughty behaviour. 

But there is one incident that he was unaware of, but certainly would wish he had. She had been colouring about with crayons on a sheet of paper, intent on making a lovely family portrait like every small child has at some point of their life. Bandage Girl was there, but not paying too much attention, but she managed to catch on to something odd about the way she coloured. She appeared to have been using that black crayon quite a bit, while Bandage Girl was thinking that she would only need it for the eyes. 

Seconds later, Nugget put down her black crayon and raised her drawing up in the air. Bandage Girl was ready to give praise to her child for the drawing and get her husband to see it as well. But she then realised what that black crayon was mostly used for. Next to the scene of Nugget being between her parents was clearly none other than Dr. Fetus—there was enough detail added in drawing him that made it irrational to think otherwise. When Meat Boy was brought over to see the drawing for himself, he realised why Bandage Girl seemed so worried over something so innocent. 

But what to do with the thing? Nugget was clearly proud of having drawn it, and she was already climbing her way up on the fridge with the desire of it being displayed. Meat Boy took the drawing from her hand and gave Bandage Girl a concerned look. They couldn’t just rip the side with him off and stick it on, she was standing right there, it would break her heart. So as a compromise, Meat Boy folded the side back before using a magnet to stick it on. Problem solved, they thought, but not to Nugget. She gave the scene a confused look, thinking Meat Boy has made some silly mistake having folded one side behind the rest of it. 

In a few moments, the rustling of paper made the couple turn their heads to see Nugget fixing the paper to her liking. But that wasn’t the end of it. As a sort of reminder to not block view of Dr. Fetus, she took a red crayon left on the floor and used it to draw a crudely shaped heart around him. The couple had no clue how to respond to that other than to feign joy at Nugget “heroically” fixing the image. Really, they both knew that they had to get rid of it as long as Nugget doesn’t notice. 

Any success they had was very short term, however. Their first plan was to simply refold the paper while Nugget wasn’t around, but the moment they turned back, Nugget would be seen fixing it once more. They then tried taking it off the fridge all together, waiting to see if Nugget would notice before throwing it away. But they later heard Nugget crying when she saw her picture was missing, and they had no choice but to put it back immediately. Finally, they decided on a more drastic approached and simply ripped away her drawing of their nemesis away from the rest of the picture and threw it away. But when Nugget was told that her pretty picture had been “accidentally” torn, she fixed it once more by drawing Dr. Fetus on a separate sheet of paper—which they reluctantly agreed to hang on the fridge. After that, they gave up. It didn’t matter how long they waited for her to forget about the drawing, she always noticed if Dr. Fetus wasn’t on the fridge. 

Back to the present, as Dr. Fetus continued sitting beneath the stars, he got that urge again. He shut off the mechanisms that allowed him to control his glass body and reached down into a small storage compartment located at the base of the jar. The small objects inside were unremarkable for the most part, but one ordinary object was a treasure to him: a pacifier given to him by Nugget just before he was defeated once again. He hated everyone else in the world just like how they hated him, but that kid struck him differently. Despite her having been a pain in the arse, she’s still the only one to have ever shown him some sign of affection—the paci is the only thing he has to remember her by. 

He did nothing with it but hold it close while staring at it. He normally had it sitting near him as he worked or held it in his mechanical hand, but he has lately been using his real hands since it no longer felt good enough any other way. Once more, he averted his gaze to the house. The last light had been turned off, meaning all of them had went to bed. 

And for once, despite his habit of staying up late, he thought that maybe he should rest too. With that in mind he put away the paci, reactivated the jar’s mechanisms, and sped off home. It didn’t take long to reach his destination despite the distance. Not only did he have the same platform abilities at that family, but he also knew very well the location of every saw and trap he set up long ago. He estimates that Meat Boy and Bandage Girl would’ve died thirty times each just to travel the same pathway, while he never saw a scratch on the jar’s glass. 

The location he stopped at looked like another part of a large forest, but that was just a ruse. He dug his fingers into an almost unnoticeable crack within the grass and lifted up a camouflaged hatch to an underground bunker. Going down the ladder and closing the first hatch, he was met with a second hatch that required an authorised person to scan their hand to get inside. After putting his middle finger to it, he was allowed inside to a bunker that looked unusual for someone like him to own. He always had gadgets, computers, and other dangerous gizmos scattered about. The bunker’s interior in this case looked like a residential house without any windows. 

This was no mistake. He had recently finished the construction of this bunker a couple months ago with the purpose of being as ordinary as possible, except for a space in his bedroom closet where he could watch the family through the cameras. And some may also find it unusual for him to have a child’s bedroom situated near his, being that there was no child living there. But that didn’t worry him; there will be one soon. After getting in bed, he again deactivated the jar and crawled out onto the mattress, where he soon fell asleep under a light blanket.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter.com/SuperMeatBoy/status/1076310089756114945

Waking up that morning was more of a chore than it usually was. Where he had slept before had a window that made sure the sun woke him up properly each morning, but now he had an annoying alarm clock instead. Which made the alarm worse was the fact that he couldn’t just turn it off right away; he had to crawl back into his jar before being able to slam his fist on it, silencing it until the next morning. The only plus was that he got to wake up earlier from it. After that, he had to put in a contact lens over his right eye. He kept his contact lenses in the same compartment as the paci. Yes, his monocle wasn’t just to fit in with the cartoon villain look, he had an astigmatism. This was because he never quite developed his eyes enough before getting suddenly fished out by a coat hanger and left to die in a bin. 

And for breakfast, he forced himself to do something different than what he was used to: make solid foods. He always ate liquid foods. Not because he wasn’t capable of eating solid foods, but because he felt it more convenient to just drink a meal instead. But for breakfast, and the rest of the day, he tried his hand at cooking. Fortunately, despite his zero experience, he had the internet at his disposal. He brought a tablet into his kitchen and leaned it against a coffee maker he never used yet. In fact, other than the blender, nothing in the kitchen had been used yet to prepare food. 

With the tablet propped up to his liking, he searched a video about making scrambled eggs and tapped the first result before the page even loaded all the way. After seeing that he had tapped on a video with a human cook, he hit the back button and searched for an off-pink cook. Dr. Fetus has never seen a human in person and doesn’t desire to. They just looked weird to him with their extra finger, strange eyes, unusual head shape, sticking out nose, and skin colours that varied for some odd reason. It’s not like humans and off-pinks could interbreed anyways, so why bother co-existing in the same area? All things considered, their “deformed” appearance was too distracting when he was trying to cook. 

Having soon found a video to his liking, he got started with cooking. To his surprise, it was easier than he thought it would be—though cracking eggs as a beginner was a messy challenge. He placed the cooked eggs on a plate and salted them as the tutorial suggested and was finished. Now he had to try them out. He had eaten eggs before, but it’s been a long time and hardly remembered the taste. To eat, he opened an unseen square-shaped opening where his monocle is placed which he often used to climb out of the jar. He leaned his real head in closer to the opening, and allowed for his fake hand to the end of a fork with a piece of egg into his mouth. For something so basic, it was okay (which means good to him, since he isn’t one to make compliments). 

But he wasn’t doing all this for himself, otherwise he would just be making another drink. He was practicing cooking for Nugget. For a long time now, he grew more and more interested on raising Nugget as if she was his child. That also was another purpose of the cameras, it wasn’t just for feeding his addiction on watching Nugget, he watched how her parents would interact with her to get a better understanding on how to be a good parent. He could never tell what went on inside, but they often went outside for various activities. Most of it was for picnics, games, or having a nice stroll, but they all shared one thing in common: they always gave Nugget plenty of attention. 

This made Dr. Fetus feel remorse for the time he had spent with Nugget before. He would only make sure that she didn’t stray far from him and that was it; he only tried keeping her occupied when he felt she might screw up one of his evil plans—and even then, it was just mindless videos from the tablet he gave her. Things like that always made him wonder why she gave him that paci. But he would always remind himself that it didn’t matter anymore, he had been changed, and was soon ready to go about his new mission. 

After finishing the breakfast, he went outside his shelter with the intention of watching the family in person again. Among the trees, he could see the orange sunrise decorated with pink clouds. Similar to how he felt about last night’s sky, he managed to see some beauty in it. In fact, things have been feeling quite elated all week. He could only assume that it was because of what he will pull soon. His previous three kidnapping attempts have always been an act of anger. But this time, it will be different. He won’t fail either. But not today, though it felt the right moment was coming closer. 

When he got near the house, he climbed up a tree and peered into their garden. It was still early, and Dr. Fetus was thinking it might’ve been too early for them to be awake, but Nugget was once again in the garden unsupervised. He quickly put two and two together and concluded that the others were still asleep. Then it really started to hit him: they were asleep, and Nugget was alone. Maybe, he could just see her again for a moment before leaving. 

He gave the bark of a tree a firm knock, trying to get her attention, but to no avail. Then he tried to rip off a branch and throw it down to a bush below, which was rather risky since he could’ve hit Nugget, but it only caught her attention for a second before she went back to picking the petals off a pretty flower she found. Not wanting to make too much noise for too long, he decided on another risky option: just jump down and approach her. 

One deep breath later, he took a big leap down into the garden and looked around. It was definitely more beautiful up close. The flowers Meat Boy and Bandage Girl had grown there were various yet unorganised, but there was a nice aesthetic to the random flower placements. Suddenly, something grasped onto his side, he was about to act on his fight or flight instincts until he saw Nugget hugging him. All that stress about being seen disappeared in an instant and he quickly hugged her back, giving her a smile he never thought capable of achieving. It felt better than the time he was given her paci. 

After they separated, he noticed a set of bunny ears that she was wearing. They looked exactly like the ears on that babygro she has since outgrown, except attached to a black headband this time, taking him back to when they first met. He was then suddenly handed a flower he didn’t even notice was in her hand. She had gifted him a red zinnia flower she picked just before hugging him, which earned her a head pat as thanks. An idea came to Dr. Fetus, who turned around briefly, keeping Nugget from seeing what he was doing. Turning back around, she saw that he had attached the flower onto his suit, causing her to clap her little hands in delight. 

But these cute moments couldn’t last for long. He quickly turned his head as the back door started to open, so knowing he only had a couple seconds to flee, he signed with his hands a message that could be interpreted as “See you later.” before running off. Dr. Fetus, along with the family, were incapable of verbal communication, so they always used a form of sign language they developed instead. However, Nugget was still new to it and didn’t quite get what he was trying to say. Because of that, Meat Boy came out into the garden to see his upset daughter on the verge of tears. All she did in an attempt to explain why she was sad was to point in the direction Dr. Fetus ran to, but Meat Boy didn’t see or understand what was wrong. Oh well, what was important to him was that he found where Nugget ran off to again. 

Meat Boy took her inside and lifted her up onto a highchair in the dining room, securing the seat belts so she wouldn’t go anywhere. Bandage Girl was still asleep, so he decided not to bother her and to take the initiative of cooking breakfast this morning. And while he did that, he gave Nugget some crayons and a sheet of paper to doodle on. He went about making some crepes, while being distracted again by that damn drawing of Dr. Fetus on the fridge. Meanwhile, Nugget had finished her drawing. But she lacked another sheet of paper to continue. Despite her parents believing the highchair was secure, Nugget easily undid the seat belt on it and stood on up on the tray with her drawing. 

Then, Bandage Girl was awake and waved to her husband in the kitchen cooking the crepes. He told her that Nugget was colouring in the dining room, so she walked in to greet her good morning. She obviously was shocked to see that Nugget had managed to escape her highchair and was showing off another drawing of Dr. Fetus, who was drawn wearing a red flower. Meat Boy then walked in, immediately dropping the plate of crepes he made upon seeing Nugget. Luckily for them, the sound of ceramic shattering never occurred as Bandage Girl quickly caught the plate and set it on the table. 

Once again, they had to figure out what to do. But after last time, they just couldn’t come up with anything. She was still too little to understand why her parents didn’t want her acting like their enemy was some friend of hers, and the puppy eyes she gave them just screamed “Put it on the fridge!” So, with both of them letting out a disappointed sigh, they placed it on the fridge. If there was anything worse than having one Dr. Fetus on the fridge, it was having two of them. Later on, they both decided that they were going to take away were colouring utensils for a while—it wasn’t like she didn’t have other things to amuse herself with. And perhaps, they may eventually take down the two drawings without Nugget complaining. 

Later that day, Dr. Fetus was setting up several lamps he got for his homely bunker. He had constructed an extra room in the bunker, just in case he might need use for it. And he did! When he ran off after receiving the flower, he thought about that garden Nugget adored and realised that she’ll miss seeing all those flowers. He went to work right away on it, and have already made rows of dirt with seeds planted and watered, all he had to do last was to set up the special lights meant to simulate the sun’s rays. There was an extra sense of pride having finished this, because even though he had a knack for biology like he did most sciences, he normally couldn’t care less for plant life and is often known for being the polar opposite of green-fingered. 

As the sun began to set, Dr. Fetus went out again after finishing up the last meal he cooked. He stood on that same tree from earlier, watching Nugget play one last game of hide-and-seek with her parents before bed. Meat Boy went back inside first, while Bandage Girl lifted Nugget on her head to take her inside as well. Acting quickly, Dr. Fetus gave another firm knock on the tree, being extra cautious of Bandage Girl noticing. Both of the girls noticed, but while Bandage Girl turned back around after not seeing anything, he saw that Nugget was staring right at him. Before being carried back inside, she gave him an adorable smile and a little wave. He waved as well, then gestured once again that they will meet again soon.


	3. Chapter 3

A few safety plugs in the outlets later, and the room was finished. Or at least until he comes up with another idea to improve it. Dr. Fetus had spent the day so far on making additions to the bedroom he prepared for Nugget. Earlier that day, he had added a baby mobile to the cot with mini saws attached. They were rubber saws though, since he had enough common sense to not use real ones. And he also filled a shelf with a few dozen books for her. However, he was rather out of touch when it came to the books he chose. At best, there were some story books that were above her level of reading (assuming she could read yet). But many were STEM related books and textbooks one normally wouldn’t be reading until university. He similarly did so with other things as well. He got a few puzzles for her, which were all at least three hundred pieces. He knew it was a stretch, but he figured Nugget would quickly learn like he did before he declared himself a doctor. 

He walked into the closet of his bedroom, switching on the cameras to see what the family was up to. The tree he had been climbing up the other day to look into the garden had a camera on it. But, for some reason, he couldn’t see anything. The other cameras worked fine, though they didn’t show signs of any activity. And the camera wasn’t offline, because then the screen would’ve said so. His attention was focused on the camera for a minute, and the rustling of leaves and the sound of meat caught his attention. 

As it turned out, Nugget decided to climb the tree and found the camera. She had been blocking any light with her body as she curiously stared at it. What Dr. Fetus had heard before the camera was no longer blocked was Meat Boy climbing up the tree to get her down. Unfortunately for him, his camera did not go unnoticed to Meat Boy. He snatched the camera from its spot and carried it down the tree with Nugget, before rushing inside. He set Nugget down right away, being sure that she will be fine as he talked to his wife. He ran into the living room, where Bandage Girl was, and placed the camera face down on the coffee table. With the camera again being obscured, Dr. Fetus could only imagine what may be going on in there. 

He quickly explained to Bandage Girl what he found up in the tree, and her expression began to look as concerned as Meat Boy’s. The camera was basically a black brick with a lens and no markings, but they knew that there was only one person who would be setting up secret cameras around here: Dr. Fetus. Realising this, they started to panic. They wondered how long it was there for, what it was for, and if Dr. Fetus knew they had found out. If they could rewind time, they would’ve made sure to kill the guy after rescuing Nugget. And speaking of Nugget, they remembered that Dr. Fetus could be planning another kidnapping, they left Nugget alone! 

After a brief and frantic search for Nugget, they found the oblivious Nugget trying to peel an orange she found in the fridge—only to make a juicy mess as she struggled with it. Bandage Girl took the orange from Nugget to peel it herself while Meat Boy only stood there, feeling frustrated. He was so tired of dealing with saving someone being kidnapped or being kidnapped himself, and now had to face the possibility of it happening again. All because of that arsehole. He caught notice of the drawings of Dr. Fetus on the fridge, spiking his anger once more. He brought the tip of his fingers to one of the drawings, catching the attention of Nugget while Bandage Girl focused on peeling. She gave him this adorably puzzled look, as if she knew what he was up to, but Meat Boy wasn’t going to let her sway him this time. Suddenly, he ripped both drawings off the fridge with one swipe, crumpled them up, and tossed them in a nearby bin. 

It was like time stopped for a moment. Bandage Girl froze and looked at her husband, who was also unmoving. And Nugget was still trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. When Nugget started to comprehend what her father just did, she cried louder than what they have heard before. Bandage Girl put down the orange and tried to comfort Nugget, giving Meat Boy a scowl for upsetting her. Sure, she understood why he did it, but did he really have to be that direct? Seeing Nugget’s reaction, Meat Boy quickly tried to console her as well. But Nugget clearly didn’t want to be near him, so she tried hiding from him behind Bandage Girl. She took Nugget out of the kitchen and into Nugget’s room, leaving Meat Boy alone to wonder if he did the right thing. 

However, just because the camera was covered doesn’t mean Dr. Fetus couldn’t hear what was going on. He was almost getting bored looking at a blank screen when he heard Nugget crying. It was so loud, that it could be heard clearly from every room in the house. For the next half hour, he sat there anxiously listening to her cry, unable to do anything to stop it. She finally stopped because Bandage Girl had successfully managed to put her to sleep in her cot, but she didn’t look as peaceful as she normally did when asleep. After quietly leaving her bedroom, she spotted the camera left on the coffee table. It first occurred to her that she should probably smash it to bits, but she didn’t want to wake Nugget from the sound of it, and she instead stored it away in a box and left in in a small closet. It may not be broken, but it was virtually useless either way now. 

She awoke about an hour later, but her mood hardly improved. Nugget may not have started to scream her lungs out again, but she still felt completely gutted from her drawings being ruined. And what made it worse was that she had her colouring supplies taken away for some reason, leaving her unable to make new ones. While she completely ignored Meat Boy, Bandage Girl would be trying to cheer her up with games and even ice cream. None of it worked. Not even the tempting bowl of ice cream was touched. 

Instead of interacting with anyone or anything, she climbed up on the same tree and just sat there on the large branch she saw Dr. Fetus on. She really wanted to see him again more than ever. In the meantime, her parents kept trying to coax her down from the tree. They also tried to physically remove her from it, but she would climb back up as soon as she was brought down. Even as dinner time came, and Nugget’s hunger grew, she refused to come down. But her refusal made them more determined to make her come inside. They both decided to climb the tree together to drag her inside and eat. Nugget, of course still unwilling to budge, was worried until she saw a shiny object stuck in a nearby branch. 

Bandage Girl led the way as the pair climbed up, until something caused her to fall on top of Meat Boy and send them both crashing down. After feeling disoriented for a few moments, he looked at Bandage Girl; she was dead with a saw stuck between her eyes. Bandage Girl also didn’t seem to realise what had happened either until she too saw her corpse after respawning. They both looked up at the tree Nugget occupied, who didn’t look at all fazed by the incident. Did she really just throw a saw at them? Okay, they couldn’t let that one slide. They climbed the tree again, going faster than earlier. Nugget knew she was in trouble, so she frantically tried climbing to a higher branch, but got caught before she could go anywhere else. 

After finally getting her to eat at least a little food, they sent her to bed early as punishment. They removed any plushies and toys in her cot, and the two would sit and wait for her to sleep in case she tries to escape. At last, Nugget didn’t try to leave again and was believed to be asleep after twenty minutes of waiting. As the sun finally set, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl went to bed too. But Nugget wasn’t actually asleep. She was determined to get back up on that branch and she will, so she pretended to sleep until she could leave her cot. Despite the chilly temperature outside, she took a seat on the branch while still feeling upset over the drawings. 

She was then caught off guard by someone who had landed on the branch next to her. The sudden visitor caused her to lose her balance on the branch and fall. But she was then caught and placed gently back on the branch. Her eyes lit up when Dr. Fetus was there, and gave him a hug like their last meeting. He could tell that whatever she was crying about earlier, she was still upset about. But on the bright side, his presence actually helped make her happy again. Her smile even returned after several hours. For the next several minutes, they didn’t do anything other than sitting there on the branch. It then hit him: he was ready, and this was the perfect moment. 

Nugget watched as he stood up and looked both ways to assure they were alone. With no one else around, he picked up Nugget and made his way back to the bunker. Not seeing him or anything that was going on a threat, she let him carry her. After some time, she felt him hold her tighter before suddenly climbing along trees and other old machinery and dashing towards their destination. It wasn’t until they have reached the entrance to the bunker did Dr. Fetus notice that Nugget had fell asleep during the trip. He saw it as for the best, though. He didn’t want her to remember the way back if she ever wanted to leave. But it’s not like he saw that as a possibility anyways. 

He happily tucked Nugget into her new cot, turning on the mobile afterwards that spun slowly without noise. Turning off the lights, all there was to illuminate the room was a night light in the corner as he left. Before going to bed, he went into the closet to take one last peek at the cameras before turning them off for a long time. He wasn’t going to need them anymore for a long time, maybe ever. As he went to bed, he never noticed how he didn’t once make a resting bitch face like he did all the time. Instead, he fell asleep with a slight grin he kept all day.


	4. Chapter 4

It’s been a while since he had sweeter dreams, making Dr. Fetus feel rather disappointed when he awoke. But as soon as he remembered what happened last night, he felt wide awake and was able to climb in his jar and press down on the alarm clock in possibly record time. He then cracked open the door to Nugget’s room and saw her still sleeping. Good, it was too early for her to be up anyways. He started the day by doing some chores. The first one being a new one he started doing, which was to check on the plants. They were all doing quite well and only needed some watering this morning, but being plants, they grew slowly. At most, some were now tiny sprouts with tiny leaves, but he knew that wasn’t going to be enough to catch Nugget’s interest. He should probably go out sometime to fetch flowers that have already been grown—obviously while being careful not to be seen. 

Next, he went to the laundry room for, of course, laundry. But the room was built differently than your usual laundry room. It did have the ordinary washer and dryer with various cleaning detergents to go along with it, but it also had an entire section dedicated to dry cleaning. Being that he wore only suits for his jar, having one was a must. It was no trouble putting one in, he had an unlimited budget for his projects. He is Dr. Fetus after all, he wasn’t afraid to do not-so-legal things to make money. The only time he did make money legally, though, was when he made bank off of Bitcoin several years back. But on second thought, the money he invested in it in the first place wasn’t so clean. Oh well, he didn’t care about clean money, he cared for clean suits. 

Within a few minutes, he was dressed in an identical, but newly cleaned, suit. The flower Nugget gave him has since began to wilt, but he could always get a new one. And he didn’t think Nugget cared that much anyways. Oh, and speak of the devil, there she was. He wasn’t intending on having her awake until perhaps another hour, but she was right there at the doorway of her room, rubbing her eyes that needed to adjust to the light outside the room. Upon seeing Dr. Fetus, she rushed over and gave him another hug. During that hug, it suddenly came to him that now would be the time to get breakfast ready. 

He held her hand as he led her to a small table next to the kitchen, having two chairs facing each other. Being that Nugget was unfamiliar with her new environment, it wasn’t hard to convince her to stay put until he was finished cooking. To keep her occupied, he handed her a calculus textbook, a notepad, and a pen before leaving. Nugget paid no attention to the textbook, but was overjoyed for the notepad and pen. She had been left wanting to draw for a while since her parents took away her supplies, and didn’t waste any time to seize the new opportunity. 

Dr. Fetus, in the meantime, got started on making scrambled eggs again as he fiddled around with the coffee maker. He never had used one before until now, but he was able to learn how it worked and get it started up before the frying pan on the cooker was pre-heated. The process of making the scrambled eggs continued as normal, and he soon rushed over to Nugget with a plate of eggs and a fork for her. He moved too fast to notice that Nugget didn’t even touch the textbook and was instead doodling away with the pen. The coffee was ready by then, which was soon transferred to a small mug. 

But he could tell that something was missing from it, despite never having any before. Oh yes, sugar! But that didn’t seem to be all that he needed. Soon, a memory came to him of watching Nugget and her parents in an open field having one of their routine picnics. If he could remember correctly, Nugget approached one of her parents with her cup. And next, they took some milk from a cooler and poured it in her cup, along with some brown liquid that he couldn’t make out from afar. But the identity of the brown stuff didn’t matter, what was important was him remembering that one often puts milk in coffee, too. Mixing it all together, he still found it strange that Nugget drank coffee. Sure, her parents drank it, but one usually doesn’t give coffee to a child. But what else could that brown liquid he saw her drink sometimes be? 

He placed down the prepared drink next to Nugget’s partially eaten plate of eggs. It was then when he finally saw the drawing on her notepad. It wasn’t what he was expecting, but he still couldn’t help but find it adorable that Nugget had drawn a picture of the two of them together. Nugget then took the picture and went into the kitchen she saw him working in. He chased after her and saw her jumping up on his fridge, making it obvious what she wanted. However, there were no magnets on the fridge for the drawing to be hung up on. But Dr. Fetus knew of a quick and easy substitute. He grabbed a small saw from his pocket, ripped out the drawing from the notepad, and used the saw as a shuriken to pin the drawing to the fridge by the top of the page. 

Since that was now dealt with, he took her back to the table, wondering why she hasn’t been using the textbook. He kept thinking about this as she finished eating her meal, and drinking the unfamiliar drink he gave her. He started to think that maybe she wasn’t up to that level expected to comprehend the textbook, so he knew he needed something different. So, a few moments later, voila! A pre-calculus textbook was placed before Nugget. Yet, she still didn’t seem interested in it, nor did she pay any attention to it when he opened it up to show her the pages. He began to fear that maybe she was never taught anything about math. So, to test her, he took the notepad and jotted down a simple question: two plus two. 

To his dismay, she didn’t even understand that either. The only possible reason he saw in his mind for that being so was that her parents were clearly too irresponsible to even educate her. But luckily for Nugget, she would have someone who is willing to take up that responsibility; even if he had to start from square one, he would do it. Before he does that, though, he needs to find out why Nugget is looking more jittery than normal. 

Around that time the same morning, Meat Boy jolted awake from his bed. He felt like someone who had slept in and was late for an important meeting, or a kid late for a big test. But he didn’t do so because he had anything important to do, rather he just felt dread for some unknown reason. Since it was morning, he decided to get up and try to go about his day like normal. Bandage Girl awoke, too, when she felt her husband leave the bed. Bandage Girl agreed to make breakfast this time while Meat Boy went to get Nugget. She wasn’t in her cot as he entered her room, but that didn’t particularly alarm him, she had that habit of leaving her room in the morning without their knowledge. He felt sure she ran off to the garden again, but remembering yesterday made him feel worried. Dr. Fetus was still alive and at large; Nugget needs to learn not to wander off more than ever. 

He looked around for a few moments before realising that she wasn’t there. His anxiety grew from there, but there was always a possibility she was somewhere in the house. Bandage Girl eventually took note of how he began to look more and more worried, but she had a gut feeling as to why. Once Meat Boy noticed her staring at him, she was quick to ask what he’s doing, him answering that he couldn’t find Nugget anywhere. She immediately turned off all the cooking appliances she has been using and joined Meat Boy on the search, also remembering the danger that had been looming. They searched through the house and nearby area at least three times over before finally realising that she was really gone. 

Denial swept over them, but it wasn’t entirely without reason. Dr. Fetus’ last kidnappings always occurred with a witness seeing him. In fact, they knew that he preferred someone seeing him, since it meant he could lure them into deadly contraptions in an effort to kill them—this strategy tended to backfire when he would just lead them right to him. Also, Nugget was quite upset yesterday, she may have simply run away from home. Though, when they thought about it more, they started to even doubt their own denial. Surely, he would know that they couldn’t be killed through conventional means. But whatever the case, they had to keep searching—expanding the search radius after thoroughly searching through one area. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Fetus was having a panic attack of his own. Nugget had been out of control, literally. She couldn’t sit still for a microsecond even if she tried, and Dr. Fetus couldn’t even hold her down without her wiggling out of his grasp seconds later. She just kept jumping and climbing on everything so fast, that she would move to another side of the bunker in the blink of an eye. The only positive to this situation is that he knows the culprit behind this chaos: the coffee. It all started to make sense to him as he recalled the memories of what he thought was her drinking coffee. He knew he wasn’t wrong about her parents drinking coffee, but Nugget certainly wasn’t being given any. He thought back to the picnic where she asked them to fill her cup, then, he realised what she actually was drinking: chocolate milk! They were making her chocolate milk, not coffee, and the brown liquid he saw being poured in with the milk was chocolate syrup. 

But what to do now? She was impossible to handle as she jumped around and... collapsed onto the floor? After assuring that she was alive, he began to comprehend the miracle that just occurred. She had a caffeine crash and was too knackered to do anything but to sleep on the floor. Very carefully, he picked her up to place her back in her cot, making sure not to wake her back up. When that was done, he angrily took the coffee maker from its spot, carried it as he climbed up to the entrance, and threw it outside. But he still felt that he needed to give that coffee maker a piece of his mind, so he gave it a firm kick and gave it the finger for good measure. 

He would’ve gotten back inside after that, but with Nugget asleep, he realised now might be a good time to get some flowers for the indoor garden. Normally, he would do something like this when it was night. But he had been actually sleeping at night for a while now, and he would rather steal when in broad daylight than tired. Not like anyone in the town located some kilometres away would be believed if they said they saw an off-pink fetus commit a crime. Though it was far, he was quite fast for his height and could make it there in no more than twenty minutes. He knew the direction to head too, so flipping off the coffee maker just one last time, he ran off to the town.


	5. Chapter 5

Meat Boy’s world was clouded by anguish as he searched through the saw-ridden forest. Not even having the chance to have breakfast this morning especially made him exhausted, despite having plenty of sleep last night. Bandage Girl has recently said that she would go back to the house to look around for Nugget in case she ran away and regretted it, leaving that to be his only hope. He decided to go up for a higher view, which would perhaps allow him to see signs of any moving saws or a new slugger Dr. Fetus built. It would still be a pain to deal with if that was the case, but at least they would know for sure what happened to Nugget and where to find her. Doing his best to avoid the saws, which still killed him a few times now, he got up the highest tree around only to find nothing. 

He jumped back down in a huff, only to die again when he landed head first on a coffee maker someone discarded on the ground. When he respawned back on the tree, he jumped down again confused this time, wondering why the hell a coffee maker that looked almost new was just sitting there. He turned his body when he heard Bandage Girl arrive with a familiar object in hand: the spy camera, now having some masking tape cover the lens. She informed him that Nugget had not returned home, but she had an idea. During their last rodeo with Dr. Fetus, they were met with those vengeful forest animals that took control of his Big Slugger. The one who helped control it was a strange creature named Manic, that looked like that spaghetti monster god they heard some humans worshipped. If he was able to take control of an invention of Dr. Fetus, then perhaps he could help out with the camera. This wasn’t what Meat Boy really wanted to hear, but it did open up a lead to follow. 

So, while Meat Boy and Bandage Girl started their long trip to find Manic, Dr. Fetus has just arrived at his own destination. He stood behind a flower shop, where no one would spot him before he decides on his next move. Being that he had never stolen such items before, usually just heading for the till, it took a while to come up with a plan. There were two advantages he had on his side, though: it was a weekday, and most people were at work. He was also concerned over how he would transport the plants, and didn’t brink anything to help transport them. But fortunately, people are too dumb to care for the environment; an empty plastic bag was nearby, and Dr. Fetus caught it before it blew away with the breeze. 

He peeked from the back and saw some flowers from the front display sticking out, with no one spotted walking or driving through the street, he snuck closer. The flower display up front happened to be set up in a convenient way. There were rows of flowers set up on a wooden structure that resembled hollow stair steps, allowing for him to hide under it and snatch any plastic pot from the gaps. One at a time, he would examine the flowers, mainly checking to see if they would fit where he wanted to put them. There was a set of small and short succulents that caught his eyes, so he took one from the back, took off his top hat, and placed it on his head before placing his hat back on. 

He continued this cycle of browsing and snatching flowers from behind the stand, usually going for the smaller pots in order to have more quantity. When he finished, he heaved the bag of plants out from behind the display, but then caught sight of a human woman and her child staring at him. He was startled, but not worried; no one would believe her anyways if she told anyone. So, he did what any reasonable thinker would do (at least what he thinks), he flipped them off, signed with his hands that the woman’s child was ugly and not as pretty as his, and ran off with a silent chuckle—likely not realising that she had no clue what he even tried saying to her. 

The trip back to the bunker was a pain in the arse, but it was a fulfilling one. It was definitely a sight to see when he found a corpse of Meat Boy next to the coffee maker, but it did not concern him; him finding out about the bunker was an impossibility. Taking a look at his corpse, it looks like the thing split his head open. Heh, guess that coffee maker was useful for something after all. Nugget woke up a few minutes prior to his return and had spent the time looking for him, running up to the entrance when she heard him opening the hatches. He barely had time to spot Nugget before she gave him another hug that he responded back to with his free hand. Nugget saw the bag of plants and grew more excited, already wanting to see them. Dr. Fetus beckoned her over to the indoor garden so he could find a place for them before letting her see them closer. 

Nugget had never seen the room before, wandering off to explore the room as soon as she was let in. This allowed him to be without distraction as he found an unoccupied spot to place the stolen flowers. It took more effort than usual, due to trip making a bit of a mess of the plants within the bag, but no plant wasn’t harmed enough to be unfixable. And finally, which he almost forgot, he took the hidden succulent off his head and placed it near the others. Nugget then appeared next to him, holding a watering can that he had left out earlier. He was not expecting this, but it was not surprising either. What else was he going to expect from a child who has had access to a garden nearly her whole life? After watching Nugget water away at the new plants, he checked the time. It was about noon then, and he went to cook a coffee-free lunch. 

It was around that same time when the parental duo found a sign that the Manic was nearby. After Dr. Fetus’ last defeat, the Big Slugger the animals and Manic took control over had been turned into some sort of flower bed. Getting closer to the broken-down contraption, they spotted an unusual mound of dirt with an eyepatch and a leaf atop of it. It didn’t take much thought to know that they encountered a burial mound, but they weren’t entirely sure who it was—despite the gut feeling they had. Then, a brown squirrel approached them, they knew who he was: he’s the son of the battle-torn squirrel that led the Big Slugger, and was about a teenager in squirrel years now. Despite what the people in the outside world may think, these squirrels were smart and understood the non-verbal language of the area. 

They hadn’t met the squirrels for quite a long time, so it came as a surprise when the young squirrel told them that his father has since passed away, and he was buried within the mound. It may be seen as side-tracking, but they knew it was only appropriate to pay respects to their deceased friend. If he hadn’t pressed that peculiar button, then Dr. Fetus may have won that time. For a while, they stood in silence; Bandage Girl took off the flower on her head and placed it upon the mound. There were plenty more flowers like hers in their garden anyways. However, the young squirrel thought it was off how it was just the two of them. He knew the story of Nugget being kidnapped, and found it strange they had left her alone when she was still young for her kind. 

They then fessed up their issue after a while, asking if Manic was anywhere nearby. The squirrel directed them to the Slugger, as he actually lived inside of it. Seconds later, they were already at the Slugger and climbed their way to see a sleeping Manic within. Bandage Girl gave the metal walls of the Slugger a firm tapping with the camera, still being careful not to break it. The creature woke up, looked around with his noodle-like eyes, and smiled when he caught sight of his old friends. He did not have the ability to communicate with the sign language, but he could understand it fine, and so he only pay attention to the story the couple gave—it was a bit of a shock that Dr. Fetus was still alive, since Manic remembered his unmoving body and assumed he died. 

But nevertheless, he knew a way to help. Bandage Girl felt the force of his telekinetic power pull the camera from her grasp. Then, Manic started to concentrate harder on his task, activating a small screen built into the Slugger. It began with static, then some images impossible to make out, and finally to a small, dark room. What he had showed them was a live feed from the computer that was used to monitor the camera’s footage. There was a chair, a regular door, and the corner of what was likely other surveillance monitors too. But this wasn’t particularly useful information, so they asked him if there was anything else he could show with it. After more tiring use of his powers, the screen changed to previous footage caught from the camera. They saw the moment Meat Boy discovered it, countless hours of them in the garden, and as Manic skipped forward, Meat Boy saw something that caught his eyes and alerted Manic to go back. 

It was a disturbing sight to see: Dr. Fetus was in their garden, and Nugget was alone with him and hugging him. They then watched as Nugget picked a flower from the garden for him, which he put on his suit. Soon, Meat Boy came out and the stalker ran off, causing Nugget to cry. Manic stopped the broadcast after that, both from the exhausting task of using his powers and the acknowledgement that the couple already seen enough, but he still felt like there was more to uncover—just not when he’s tired. Bandage Girl had to literally slap Meat Boy back into reality, who was in shock over knowing the real reason why Nugget was crying that day and why that one drawing of Dr. Fetus had that red dot on it. They thanked Manic for his work, but he did not allow for them to take the camera, and he managed to tell him with his limited communication skills that he wants to keep experimenting with the camera. However, that wasn’t all. With the last of his ability, he managed to display a staticky message on the screen, asking for a special type of battery. If he had access to this strong battery, then his powers may be of far greater use and last longer, then he could help them further. They gave him a nod before waving goodbye, wanting all the help they could get, but they weren’t yet sure where to get what he needed. 

Leaving the clearing behind, they saw many of the previously unseen squirrel families wave and sign to them a message of good luck. The young squirrel must have already been telling all his friends about the news, and it clearly spread as if a fire had started within the forest. Two grey squirrels even stopped them for a moment, each holding a large leaf carrying berries on each end as an offering. They figured that the couple must’ve been too busy to stop and eat recently, which was very much true. By the time another minute passed, all the berries were already eaten, and the couple gave them the sincerest thanks possible before leaving. It was still a stressful time for the duo, no matter the wishes of luck towards them, but the squirrels and the help of Manic still brought some hope.


	6. Chapter 6

The couple were, for a few minutes, clueless as to how to find the sort of battery Manic needed to help them. It felt so obvious when they realised, that they both facepalmed over their stupidity. Dr. Fetus had set up all these large, dangerous, and bizarre contraptions; clearly, something had to be powering them. But they weren’t going to be able to find a proper battery from the old saws exposed to the elements for years, they needed to find one in a place that has been sealed off from nature. Bandage Girl happened to know of a place within the forest. Surprisingly, being the first one to be kidnapped by Dr. Fetus had an unforeseen perk: she knew the location of the lab Lil’ Slugger was created and parked. When it came to kidnappings, this was one of the ways Dr. Fetus was a bit sloppy with; he always assumed that his victims couldn’t escape without help (which has been correct so far), so he never bothered to obscure from them the locations they went to and the travel there. 

Bandage Girl led the way, occasionally stopping to think of what direction they needed to go. There was no time to waste, and it caused them to tire themselves out until sunset as they travelled endlessly. There was little time to talk either. The closet they ever even gotten to having a genuine conversation was when Bandage Girl asked how Meat Boy got killed by a coffee maker they found. As the day neared its end, she was becoming more discouraged from continuing where she wanted to go. Meat Boy told her that it was okay and that she did her best, but it didn’t do much to help her. But she did agree to taking a rest, since it was time to sleep, which they barely had any. They forced themselves to sleep rough tonight, holding each other as they leaned against a tree that felt strangely cold and smooth. 

Back to the bunker, the sweet dreams of Dr. Fetus were interrupted again that night. Not by the alarm that won’t sound until several more hours, nor was it him simply waking up naturally, but by Nugget. She had opened the door to his room whilst crying softly and scared. He had no time to get in his jar to address whatever may be wrong before Nugget hopped in the bed next to him. Nugget gave him another one of her hugs, which he wouldn’t have minded if he was in his jar, but she didn’t realise how uncomfortable it felt to be in an embrace of moist meat, especially when he had no time to put his contacts in to see her properly. Well, he supposed it was best to just go with whatever kept her calm for now. It took some time to connect the dots on why this was happening, but he eventually had a solid idea. Isn’t this what kids do whenever they have a nightmare? They go to sleep in their parent’s bed instead? Whatever it was, he didn’t really care as long as Nugget just went to sleep. And surprisingly, she did so quite fast—not something one would expect from a child that young. 

The next day was peaceful so far, though. Nugget showed no signs of continued trauma from the dream, which was good since she needed to pay attention to what Dr. Fetus was trying to teach her. With golden coins, he began to teach her basic arithmetic, starting with adding and subtracting. It’s not what he had in mind when he first planned out math lessons, but it still went smoothly. Yesterday, he managed to teach her to count, giving her coins and writing down how many there were on a sheet of paper. On top of math, he tried to teach her reading as well. But that took more challenge, since it was harder to teach Nugget to read when she still was learning the sign language. 

Shortly after lunch that day, where he made a sandwich for Nugget, a faint beeping was heard from Dr. Fetus’ room. They had just started a puzzle, and he felt Nugget would be okay if he left her alone for a moment to see what the matter was. On a desk at his room was where he kept his tablet, and it had been beeping loudly before he was able to shut the damn thing off. It beeped because of an alarm that had been set off in an old lab of his, the same one where the Lil’ Slugger originated. He figured that some rodents had found their way in, which made it shocking when he saw none other than Meat Boy and Bandage girl on the security feed for the lab. When the two woke up not long ago, they saw that they had found it after all and had been sleeping on it. But as they went inside to explore, they didn’t know that Dr. Fetus would be alarmed of their intrusion. 

But now he has to make a decision: leave to give them a quick taste of his mind, or ignore them and stay home with Nugget. One side of him wanted to kick their arses again for daring to intrude on his property, but his more logical side suggested staying home. Not only was there no reason for him to suspect they were ever going to get closer to finding Nugget, but going out to fight them would risk the possibility of his jar being shattered. If that happens, then it would take a long time to recover and replace the jar, it would force him to leave Nugget alone for who knows how long. In fact, they may even kill him, thus killing the only person who can locate and access Nugget’s location. It took a while, but he eventually guilt tripped himself for even considering going out for something so pointless. And suddenly, Nugget showed up next to him. She was wondering what took so long with him, and why he was staring at a tablet on his desk instead of doing the puzzle. He apologised to Nugget for the wait and head back out with her. He arrived to see that the frame of the puzzle was almost done already, she even found those corner pieces he’s been looking for out of the seven hundred total pieces. Yeah, he was sure he would make a doctor out of her someday. 

The couple explored the old lab they had found the entrance to after a while. And after more time passed bumping into objects and each other while finding a light, Meat boy happened upon a light switch—also from bumping into it. It wasn’t until the lights turned on when they realised that they were standing in the same room as Lil’ Slugger this whole time. It looked new from the last time they saw it; Dr. Fetus must’ve repaired it. Meat Boy was sure that they may just find a strong enough battery in there, but Bandage Girl stopped him before he went closer. She knew that Lil’ Slugger was powered by petrol, not through any sort of battery. However, there wasn’t anything else to see other than the Slugger and some cans of petrol laying around, while the doors they saw were steel and unable to be opened. But she still knew that the Slugger had a use for the mission. Meat Boy gave her a confused look as she hopped up on the Slugger and went into the cockpit. 

She tried to start it up from memory, pressing all four buttons presented in front of her and fastening the seat belt. But it did not rise and start as expected, and it felt slightly embarrassing when she looked down and saw Meat Boy holding a petrol can as if it were obvious Dr. Fetus wouldn’t just leave petrol to go stale within the Slugger. She sat there until Meat Boy was able to find the petrol tank and fill it enough to run for at least an hour, even though he still had no clue what Bandage Girl was intending to do with it. He just had to trust his wife’s judgement; she did choose to marry him. Once he gave the signal to go, she repeated the same process and was met with success. 

She honestly had little to no clue what she was doing from that point, but she eventually got it to turn around and face one of the inner walls of the facility. After taking some steps closer, the massive chainsaw of the slugger started tearing through the walls, giving them an entrance to other rooms. Having gotten the hang of it, Bandage Girl easily shut it off by simply pressing the same four buttons in the opposite order. She hopped out and went with her husband to the newly accessible room. It was different from what they expected. They were expecting small and big gadgets and some documents of evil plans, but the room was filled with little gadgets and a ton of papers describing his inventions. There may not be any super battery in here, but this was still a good place to get an idea of the exact battery they may need. 

Meat Boy searched through some filing cabinets in the “B” section, while Bandage Girl looked through some papers strewn across the tables and sometimes the floor. There were papers about inventions and concepts of inventions familiar and unfamiliar, some being just plain bizarre or impossible. Some concepts could probably split the earth in two or lead to him ruling the universe if he ever could accomplish it. And considering that he made a button that screwed around with time, he probably could, then there may be much worse to worry about than a kidnapping. But until he pulls another stunt, they had to look for Nugget. Of course, they were expecting more dying from saws, lasers, glass, and salt rather than going on a scavenger hunt for a battery. 

It ended up being harder searching in the cabinets than he thought; the papers about any batteries had given them a special title and were then sorted on a different letter. Finally, as he sorted through the “W” list, he found what was called a “WHITE HOLE BATTERY”. According to some notes within the document, Dr. Fetus has actually managed to create the thing sometime after they got Nugget back, and it used a black hole in another universe to transfer the energy into their universe. It sounded all too far-fetched, but if it even had a fraction of the power the document described, then it may be what they need. Although, they were sort of worried that this might kill Manic if he tries using it. Well, it was still their best bet, and it felt like a small victory that may even snowball into a bigger one. All they had to do was to make the trip back to the clearing after finding its location. 

But they were being watched from afar. Dr. Fetus kept hearing the tablet beep again, and it bothered him to no end. And it bothered him more to see why it rang: those twits literally took his Slugger and rammed it into a wall. He then changed the feed into the room they went into, looking through all his papers until they found one that made them look happy for once. As he watched their smiles, all that sense of logic from earlier just faded away slowly, and Nugget showed up again to pull on his free hand, wondering why he stopped doing the puzzle again. He turned off the tablet and gave Nugget a look of worry. Then, he decided to himself that he will eventually go out to stop them, despite the risks. But for today, he just wants to spend the rest of the day with Nugget.


	7. Chapter 7

Finding the battery was easier said than done. The paper may have said that it’s located within the electrical room of the lab, the place was way bigger than they expected and was a maze that constantly pestered them with password protected doors. Bandage Girl would constantly need to drive the Lil’ Slugger into another wall, often getting the legs or saws stuck. This frustration was also clouded with a sense of paranoia, since Dr. Fetus could show up at any moment and ruin the plan. After getting the Slugger unstuck for the umpteenth time, she aimed down to hit the walls of the lower floors. She must’ve gone too hard on the controls as she lunged it forward, as she was ejected from her seat that she neglected to buckle in and smacked into the windscreen. She was okay, but that moment of pain wasn’t for nothing. After Meat Boy checked on her, he took a peek inside the new room they uncovered, seeing various walls of switchboards, meters, and other confusing panels one would expect in an electrical room. 

But there was something that soon struck him as odd. Most of these things have clearly been damaged by the Slugger—some beyond repair—but he noticed that every light in the building that hasn’t been destroyed directly by Lil’ Slugger was still on. He walked along the ruined room, with Bandage Girl soon following behind, and he stopped when he spotted a faint glow coming from a doorway leading down a staircase. Around the doorway had various warning signs reading that whatever is down there is brighter than the sun, and cannot under any circumstances be looked at directly. The message was ominous, but he had a gut feeling that the battery was down there. Bandage Girl agreed to stay behind as Meat Boy descended, who found a small box of special goggles for the room below. The goggles made everything pitch black when he tried them on, though, as if someone took the blackest paint to dunk it in several times over. But if that’s what one of the signs said he needed, then he’ll take it. 

The stairs spiralled down for seemingly a kilometre, and looking down from the top, it appeared to end in a bright light. About a quarter of the way down, the light started to get uncomfortably bright for his eyes, almost causing him to squint to the point where his eyes shut completely. Coming to the paint where the light became almost unbearable, he finally put on the goggles; they actually didn’t show pitch black, and instead showed a very dim view of the stairs ahead. As he finally made it to the bottom, he was able to fully comprehend how bright the room really was. The pitch-black goggles that he expected to make everything dark worked instead like a pair of dodgy sunglasses. Then, in the tiny room he ended up in, he found the source of it all: a glass, tubular battery that appeared to have a mini white hole within it. He felt anxious to touch it at first, but surprisingly, it actually just felt like cold, untouched glass. Having regained his confidence, he grabbed it and yanked it out of the holder. 

During the next few minutes, as he ascended up the stairs, the battery’s glow faded—eventually to the point where Meat Boy could take off the goggles without harming his eyes. Just when he reached the top, Bandage Girl saw what must be the battery and embraced him; they felt like they were getting close to finding Nugget, even if they weren’t sure how Manic would help them further. They took some time to get a closer look at the battery, which no longer had the white hole and simply looked like a clear cylinder with metal end points. It didn’t look anything special when it wasn’t in use, but they had it, and they had to go now. But shortly after they left, the lights in the lab began to dim. 

With a battery that strong, Dr. Fetus obviously had more use for it than to power a measly lab. He was watching Nugget eat her dinner, as the lights in the bunker started to get dimmer. At first, he thought that it was just the light in the room they were in being faulty. However, every room started to show the same problem, with more than just the lights being affected. The connection for his tablet was also getting flaky, until it just stopped working entirely at one point. He thought that what connected the bunker to the battery in that lab may have been damaged somehow, but then it hit him: those two were in the lab earlier, they must’ve done something with that battery. When he realised this, Nugget had finished her dinner. So, he took her to her room, tucked her in, and turned on the mobile, which light up and spun using regular batteries. Dr. Fetus could see how confused she was, wondering why she was already being sent to bed. Before leaving, he gave her a hug and told her to be good while he was away. He didn’t want to leave her until tomorrow, but he had no choice. Before the lights were almost completely off, Dr. Fetus found one of his button remotes and took it with him. 

They were getting tired, but they couldn’t let that stop them. As they dashed through familiar obstacles, they managed to keep themselves from dying again, knowing that they cannot let the battery be damaged or else the mission was for nothing. Bandage Girl led the way again, holding the battery as firmly as she could. But the battery fell to the ground as Bandage Girl was killed by a saw that had been suddenly thrown at her. Meat Boy and his respawned wife were unable to pick up the battery in time before Dr. Fetus showed up and snatched it in his hands. The moment they were able to see what had happened, he ran off in the opposite direction with the battery. Dr. Fetus knew that trying to kill them was of no use anymore, but he had another idea that he planned out for such a scenario. 

There was a certain spot nearby that he needed to lure them to, and their desperation made it hilariously easy for him to do so. Not too far away from the bunker, he simply stopped in his tracks and waited for the two to catch up. When they did, they furiously stared at Dr. Fetus as he did nothing, knowing well that they were ready to attack him and recover the battery—maybe even interrogate him about Nugget’s whereabouts. But everything came to a standstill when he pulled out a button. Anyone who knows Dr. Fetus, even a little bit, knows that that’s one of the last things one would want to see from him; those buttons always meant trouble. Before pressing it, he stood there for a minute, seeing how they stood in the perfect position for this to work. The button had been pressed, and the duo couldn’t react before four white walls arose from the ground and surrounded the two of them. A roof then formed over them, trapping them inside a blank room with no exits, entrances, or any sort of opening. Then, they heard themselves being pulled underground within the room. After that, it was over. 

Dr. Fetus tossed the button to the side and let out a laugh he never had let out before. They were gone! Why waste time killing them, when he could simply just trap them in their own special grave for all time? But before he could let euphoria overtake him completely, he still had to return the battery to its proper place, which would take a while. But he should be able to return to the bunker well before Nugget wakes up, assuming she was going to be asleep the whole evening and night. 

But Meat Boy and Bandage Girl weren’t the only ones he would have to deal with; someone had heard of their situation and wanted to help. A day prior, in the early evening, a brown man sharing the same cubed body wanted to visit his old friends and their kid. Their name was Brownie, but despite his name and brown appearance, they weren’t made of the delicious treat—rather something far more unappetising. Because of this, he often wore disposable gloves, since the couple probably wouldn’t want him to directly touch their things. He went over to the front door and gave it a knock, to which he was given no response. Another knock, and still, nothing. Or, nothing from the ones living there, as there was a squirrel willing to help him out. They didn’t know who Brownie was, but they could tell that the couple and Brownie were friends; why else would they be having a friendly visitor? 

The squirrel was one of those who had watched the couple leave after talking with Manic, and left to watch their home in case of anything happening. They asked him if he was looking for the couple, which he obviously responded yes. Then, the whole story was laid out for Brownie: Dr. Fetus had taken their child again and they went out to find them. He also heard rumour that they were looking for a battery for Manic, but didn’t know where they were going. The moment the squirrel explained this to him, he shook the squirrel’s paw and ran off. Their hand didn’t smell particularly good afterwards. Now, though the squirrel may have had no clue where the duo went, but Brownie had a way of finding out. Just like he did whenever he was busy doing all that running and jumping, the couple often left behind a wet trail. If he could find such a trail, then he may be able to catch up with them and ask to help them. 

Back to the present, and Brownie had managed to find a trail that he has been following for a few hours, but now, it stopped. The trail had completely come to a halt, and it just didn’t make sense. There were times where a trail would stop at a saw, then would continue when one respawned, but there was nothing else to follow. Well, nothing that left behind a visible trail. It was dark, but he could see something running away from the scene, so he had the instinct to follow it. It was difficult, but he finally managed to get a good enough look of the person without being spotted himself. And to his shock, Dr. Fetus was there—and he looked happier than usual. He was holding something, too, but it wasn’t Nugget. It was strange to Brownie, since he normally took his victims everywhere he went. Well, whatever he was doing, Brownie was going to stop him before he went any further.


	8. Chapter 8

Dr. Fetus travelled along, oblivious of the presence of Brownie. The next second turned into conflict. Within that second, Dr. Fetus paused when a large branch that had been flung at him just barely missed him. After that, Brownie appeared and started wrestling with him, which was a challenge for Dr. Fetus to handle when his hands are already occupied. To make matters worse for Dr. Fetus, not only did he not have another trap set up to bury him as well, but he shared the same immortality trait as the couple. Continuing to wrestle him, especially when his opponent is made of literal faeces, was undesirable, so he decided to run off and try to lose him. This eventually led to Dr. Fetus climbing up a tree to hide in, but Brownie was always on his tail. He looked around, trying to find another tree to jump onto, but Brownie was already there and continued the wrestle. The fight, as well as maintaining his balance, was too much for Dr. Fetus to handle; the battery then slipped out of his grasp and fell to the ground, shattering it in the process. Brownie did not think to close his eyes, while the other did, and it caused him to temporarily go blind from what happened, allowing Dr. Fetus to escape. A shockwave made entirely of light travelled from the broken battery, to across the whole forest. 

While this was happening, the colony of squirrels and Manic were getting restless. Every hour that passed lowered the mood as they worried for the safety of the couple. Manic was sitting on the ground, next to the Slugger, when the shockwave hit. Of course, he was blinded as well, but when the initial shock had worn off, he felt energised. Actually, he felt really energised, like he never did before. He called over the young squirrel that the couple met earlier to show him something. When he did, Manic floated up to the Slugger and pulled up the same screen. There was no static image that he struggled to maintain; the wave of light had made it effortless to use his powers. As he did last time, he held the camera as well when he activated the screen. Finally, he was able to see what he wanted—and it was why he asked for a battery in the first place. The screen showed a map of exactly where the monitors for the camera was, and they found that it had been concealed underground the whole time. 

Manic was ecstatic, and his charged-up powers allowed him to display a message of how he can't wait for Meat Boy and Bandage Girl to return, but the young squirrel disagreed. Not with the benefits of the find, no one would deny that, but with waiting for the couple to return. They have been gone for too long, and it may be best to investigate as soon as possible. He argued that they should both go there together, and if either one of them ever returned to the clearing while they were away, then another squirrel can tell them where they went and where the bunker was found. So, a new duo consisting of a creature with enhanced telekinesis and a brave squirrel headed out to the direction of the bunker. The duo wasn’t immortal, nor were they as capable of avoiding saws, but Manic’s powers compensated for this well—almost like there was no danger at all. 

Reaching an area where a coffee maker sat nearby, Manic stopped and signalled the squirrel to look down. The squirrel knew what he meant: the bunker was down there, and there must be an entrance around here. He brushed over the grass thoroughly with his paws, finding an unusual straight crack between the blades. He dug his paws in, beginning to lift what felt like a metal door. It was heavy, too, and Manic had to assist, but they opened it. But there was another hatch they had to open, and this one looked different from the first. It was one that required a hand scan, but the scanner needed to be turned on first by Manic’s powers. When he did, it didn’t do much to help. They still needed someone who was able to pass the scan, and placing his own paw on it only resulted in a glowing red hand flipping them off. They had to find another way inside, but they had no ideas if Manic couldn’t open the hatch. 

Then, a familiar scent hit the squirrel. It was rather faint, since whoever the scent belonged to must’ve left some time ago, but it was still strong to the nose of a squirrel. Manic looked curiously at the squirrel sniffing around, leading himself somewhere not far from the bunker. The squirrel stopped, and just then, Manic began to feel something too—like he needed to use his powers on something. The squirrel apologised briefly for not explaining why he got distracted before explaining the scent he picked up. It was the scent of Meat Boy and Bandage Girl, and it seems to have gotten stronger when he stopped, as if they were somewhere very nearby yet far at the same time. Now knowing that, the urge for Manic to use his powers on whatever he was sensing grew stronger, until he suddenly started to use them without warning. The young squirrel was caught off guard when he suddenly saw a white box being pulled out of the ground. It was possibly the last thing he was expecting, but it may just get the closer to reaching their end goal, so he wasn’t complaining. And he started to notice that the faint scent of the couple seemed to be contained within the box, which made him just as excited as Manic was when he found the bunker’s location. 

His focus was entirely on the box, until the thing suddenly crashed and was again concealed again within the earth. He looked towards where Manic just was, wanting to ask why he stopped. Did he suddenly run out of energy? Well, unfortunately, he wished that was the case. A large, pointy branch impaled Manic to the ground. He wasn’t moving, and the squirrel was absolutely shaken when he realised what had happened: he died. The Manic was dead. He didn’t have time to mourn over his friend, before another sharp branch just barely missed him. He dashed up some metres up the side of a tree to get a view of the killer, and found the nemesis of his father: Dr. Fetus. The squirrel never met him in person, but he knew what he was capable of, and he picked up the same branch that killed Manic and chased after the squirrel. There was no time to think of anything else, if he didn’t retreat, then two fatalities would result from this trip. After running and not once daring to look back for several minutes, he was sure Dr. Fetus was gone. It would be tough, but he had to go back to tell the others the fate of Manic. 

Dr. Fetus gave up on trying to kill that squirrel, but it didn’t bother him much. As long as Manic was dead, he didn’t foresee any way a measly squirrel could help the couple escape. He then heard some rustling from the near distance; Brownie was about to find him again. He knew what to do, as he quickly went to the bunker’s camouflaged hatch and hid inside, waiting for Brownie to move along until he left to return the... Wait, no no no no no! It was shattered earlier! How could he have forgotten that? Anxiously, he tested out if his worst fear had come true. It was completely dark, but he managed to guide his hand to the scanner, which did nothing. He didn’t know what a panic attack felt like until now, and he noticed himself starting to cry, something that happened so rarely one would think it as impossible. Nugget was indeed trapped inside the dark bunker, but still, he felt a bit of hope. It would be harder without the battery, but he had no other choice but to find an alternative. It felt like he waited an hour, but eventually he felt safe to assume Brownie was long gone before heading out. 

About an hour later, the squirrel came back with the company of countless other squirrels. One of them carried a small basket weaved from wood fibres and placed it down near the body of Manic. Four others came to the front to gently lift the bloody mess of what remained of his body into the basket. What followed was a long and gloomy walk to the clearing, which was led by the young squirrel who would find the safest route past the saws. When they returned to the clearing, some squirrels who have stayed behind dug a small hole near where the mound of the young squirrel’s father laid. Carefully, they laid the basket in the hole and used the pile of dirt to bury the body. Once the dirt was firmly packed together, there was one final part of the burial they must attend to: a single green leaf placed on top. 

The young squirrel stood nearby, but only participated by leading them back to the clearing and placing the leaf on top. He was heartbroken, but he just felt too angry to cry. When the little funeral was over, he rallied some of the other trusted squirrels among his group. Their goal was simple: find the couple and their child and kill Dr. Fetus. They would leave at about noon, so they would still have time to rest and eat before leaving. 

In the bunker, things still weren’t peaceful either. Nugget had awoken from another nightmare again, and climbed out of her cot to find Dr. Fetus, but everything was just too dark; the only source of light was from her cot’s mobile. She didn’t want to have to feel around for anything, so she climbed up to the mobile to give it a good yank. Eventually, she fell over to the floor, hurting herself when the mobile came down with her. But it still worked, so she wasn’t particularly saddened. The mobile was too heavy for her to carry long, so she dragged it along the floor as she went to Dr. Fetus’ room. It took a while to notice with the dim lighting once she arrived, but he simply wasn’t there. And if he wasn’t sleeping when she was supposed to be, then she didn’t know where else he may be. And like any little kid, she was terrified. 

She started to cry as she continued to wander the bunker, still not finding anyone there. It didn’t take long for her to get tired from dragging the mobile around, so she just sat there, feeling helpless. Near her spot, she saw a paper and pen used to do lessons with Dr. Fetus earlier and went over to it. She may not have the ones she loved with her, but she could at least have a reminder of them. She flipped the paper over to the side that hasn’t been stained with ink yet, and began to draw. It was a simple drawing of three people she loved: Bandage Girl, Meat Boy, and Dr. Fetus, ordered from left to right. It wasn’t done yet, though. She had a hard time learning to read and write, yes, but she did learn something she could apply here. Over each of them, she wrote crooked, all capital words: ‘MOM’, ‘DAD’, and ‘UNCLE’. When she finished, she took the drawing and mobile to Dr. Fetus’ room, where she fell asleep on his bed. The drawing was kept next to her as she slept, and eventually in her sleep, she began to cling onto it like a plush toy.


	9. Chapter 9

It’s been a while since noon had passed, and the young squirrel served as the leader as the other squirrels were led to the bunker’s location. He also showed them the location of that strange box that was about to be lifted before Manic’s death. They stopped and waited for orders from the leader. After some thought, he decided on three being left behind to watch over the two locations—a fourth one staying to serve as their temporary commander. The rest of the pack continued to follow the young squirrel as they searched for Dr. Fetus and the family. Some of them, including the leader, started to catch on to a scent along the way. It was a foul one, but the trail of the scent was familiar to Meat Boy and Bandage Girl’s scent trail. The leader quickly deduced who this scent belonged to, especially with traces of a brown trail being found: Brownie. He hardly knew anything about Brownie, but it fortunately didn’t matter as others in his group said that he was friends of the family, and he was probably looking for them too. 

Knowing this, he decided on following his trail; they were always happy to have another ally. They spent the next half hour following Brownie’s trail, being extra cautious as not to stain their fur with the trail’s contents. The young squirrel kept sniffing and following the path, until he was interrupted by one member of his group tapping his back and pointing to his right. He was surprised to have missed it; some distance away, Brownie stood in confusion as he tried to examine an old red and pink trail left behind. Brownie stopped and turned around when he saw the pack of squirrels calling for his attention; they knew that both parties were on the same mission. He was quite lucky to have found the squirrels, too, since they were able to help him with a problem he’d been having. He was following some old trails left by the couple, so he could try and find more clues, but they have since faded and most of it was no longer visible. However, since the scent still lingered, the squirrels joined in and where able to follow the now invisible path. 

The group stopped when they eventually came across an old grey building, which was definitely owned by Dr. Fetus. A large door, similar to that of a garage door was left open; something that wasn’t open when the couple had stopped by. They weren’t even inside yet, when they saw a large chainsaw mecha was standing tall and proud inside. Brownie knew of this machine, called Lil’ Slugger, and spotted some tool boxed and some scrap metal beside it as well—like it had some maintenance work done recently. On top of the Slugger, there was also a large, metal box strapped to the top of it. The rest of the group looked about the room, while the young squirrel caught a familiar scent that the other squirrels didn’t think much of. They also didn’t seem to notice him leaving the room to track the scent down to the source. 

Meanwhile, from one of the nearby rooms, Dr. Fetus watched the intruders enter his lab while he was trying to work. He held a rocket launcher by his side, just in case they got too close. He was confident they would leave eventually without touching the Slugger, which was all that mattered to him now. But suddenly, the young squirrel appeared right in front of him, and the group quickly left the garage to investigate an explosion heard in the other room. Dr. Fetus had fled the scene with his weapon, leaving the others to wonder how the now bleeding young squirrel managed to have been knocked unconscious in an explosion. They panicked to tend to his wounds, as they covered them with their paws while the others looked for some cloth to bandage them. But in the midst of their panic, Dr. Fetus decided he had to leave before the young squirrel regains consciousness. Soon, he finally awoke, and despite feeling weak, he limped over to where the garage could be seen—despite objections that he should just sit still and rest—and pointed at the Slugger. To their shock, it had just left the facility. 

To catch it, they had to be quick. One of the bigger squirrels was able to left carry the young squirrel, since they didn’t want Brownie to do so for obvious reasons. The Slugger was fast, and it cut down any tree Dr. Fetus saw the group on, making the chase a hassle. And even if one had managed to climb up on a tree and jumped on a spot without saws, climbing into the cabin was seemingly impossible. Dr. Fetus still had the launcher on him, and could multitask to rid of any unwanted visitors trying to enter. Fortunately, no one else was hurt from this, but they didn’t know what to do to stop him. Just making sure they didn’t lose him was already risky, and the Slugger was likely still far from its destination. During the struggle, one of the squirrels leaped from a tree that had just been cut down and onto the roof, ready to descend into the cabin. But he was suddenly thrown off before they could, and it was not by Dr. Fetus this time, who had felt himself nearly get thrown around as well if it wasn't for the seat belt. The young leader squirrel was watching the Slugger’s actions carefully, and could deduce why this happened: The Slugger had nearly tipped over from the tree that it had just cut down. 

The chance of success was slim, but it was good enough for the injured squirrel. He called attention for the squirrels and ordered them to follow behind the Slugger until further notice. Then, they waited and followed behind, causing Dr. Fetus to believe he had finally lost them. They waited for a long time for the leader to give more orders, making them slightly question his judgement, but he assured them that he knew what he was doing. At last, Dr. Fetus was nearing the bunker, and ready to stop the Slugger; this was when the young squirrel commanded the whole group to go to a tree in front of the Slugger, making sure that Dr. Fetus saw them there, who was just unbuckling his seat belt. However, seeing the group in front of him caused him to restart the Slugger in a rage, desperate to rid of these pests. He cut down the tree they were on, and was ready to flatten them with the giant, robotic feet. It all backfired, though, as he stepped on the large tree that rolled with his step, causing the Slugger to fall like a child face-planting from stepping on a toy car. 

This wasn’t what the young squirrel was planning, though, since they could’ve done that at really any other time if they tried hard enough. What he had in mind was for the Slugger to fall forward and cut through a certain underground box, which it did. In the process, Dr. Fetus was flung forward and slammed to the ground through the windscreen. He was extremely lucky, since his jar never shattered from it. Instead, it left a very noticeable crack, which could get worse if he doesn’t do something about it soon. Everyone’s attention was then on the underground box, which seemed to disappear beneath the ground, causing masses of dirt to fall into the hole left behind. The young squirrel slowly made his way towards the scene, while Brownie followed behind him, unknowing what had happened there. Soon, a miracle had occurred to them: Meat Boy and Bandage Girl started to slowly climb their way through the pile of dirt, coughing heavily as they did. Brownie came up to them and helped the up, and the two never been happier to seen him. After they came to, Brownie told them how he was looking everywhere for them and wouldn’t have done it without the squirrels. The young squirrel on the other hand, informed them of how Manic found the bunker’s location and was killed by Dr. Fetus. 

The couple was in shock of hearing this news, but they had to keep themselves from being distracted as they were shown the bunker's hatch, which was next to a coffee maker. They have been walking over it the whole time! Looking inside, it appeared that there was no power to the bunker, seeing the deactivated scanner to get inside. Maybe the white hole battery powered more than they thought. Suddenly, they were interrupted by the sounds of a fight breaking out between Dr. Fetus and everyone but the couple. He was outnumbered greatly, and his rocket launcher wasn’t going to hold them much longer. Normally, this would be great. But an unease was felt between the two, like killing Dr. Fetus may not be such a good thing. They saw the Slugger, which had a large box strapped to it. It looked like a generator. And next to the fallen machine, some shovels laid. What topped it all off, though, was when Dr. Fetus urgently signed that they would regret killing him—that Nugget would end up dying with his death. 

They knew that it was better safe than sorry, and had to stop the commotion before it was too late. Dr. Fetus launched another rocket, which immediately exploded, sending red meat flying everywhere. He saw a respawned Meat Boy and Bandage Girl, and feared that this was really the end. But he noticed that they did not seem interested in harming him, rather they quickly told the other side to stop and asked him where Nugget was. He couldn’t lie; that would inevitably lead to Nugget never seeing light again. He confessed that Nugget was trapped in the bunker, and that the generator atop of the Slugger was essential to freeing her, since the battery was destroyed earlier. He was expecting death soon afterwards, that they only wanted to fish that info from him, but he was suddenly handed a shovel. Looking at the couple’s face, they didn’t seem particularly mad at him, they just wanted their child back—and he will unfortunately have to comply, too, if it means saving Nugget. Dr. Fetus led the couple to a seemingly ordinary spot near the hatch while the rest only watched, surprised of how anti-climactic the fight ended. The rest still decided to make themselves useful, taking the generator off the Slugger and placing it near the digging site. 

Soon, the trio uncovered a couple of wires under the ground, later uncovering enough for Dr. Fetus to work with. He took one of his pocket saws and severed the wires, not worried about being shocked as it was without power. He flipped a switch on the generator and stuck the severed wires in two of the holes of the generator, causing some sparks to fly out. He didn’t have any adhesive to keep the wires in, but it was good enough as long as it was undisturbed. Then they checked the second hatch, and saw the scanner glowing. As if he forgot that several enemies are watching, he dashed down to the scanner and placed his middle finger on it, opening the second hatch and hopping down. As soon as the couple went down with him, the first thing that met their eyes was Nugget running up to Dr. Fetus and hugging him. She didn’t even seem to notice her parents were there, but the couple didn’t think it felt right to force them apart. When Nugget started to feel better after being left alone, she saw her parents for the first time in a while, yet only waved at them. Okay, time to go. 

Without even giving Dr. Fetus a chance of goodbye, they snatched Nugget from him and ran out of the bunker and to the direction of home. But he wasn’t even going to say goodbye to her in the first place. Nugget dropped to the ground as her parents were suddenly blown to bits by his rocket launcher, and then picked up and carried away another direction. The bunker may now be exposed, but there were other places to keep her to himself, he just needed to once again lose the group chasing him. The squirrels were falling behind, as the saw filled path he chose forced them to find alternatives, but the couple and Brownie were able to put their respawn abilities to good use once again. Just as Dr. Fetus thought he had lost them at one point, the three surrounded him and Nugget as his back neared a wall. He recognised this, it was that same chunk of old machinery he star gazed on, and he climbed up it with nowhere else to go. But he was of course cornered again on the thing, this time being pushed back to a ledge that led to a steep drop. But he still had his rocket launcher on hand, and kept shooting at the trio until he could come up with a way to escape. 

After a few minutes, the squirrels miraculously seemed to arrive, only to be met with a fury of missiles. Luckily, they all managed to dodge them, but the same couldn’t be said about the trio. Another bit of luck went on their side as the missiles stopped flying; he had run out of them. The only one to be hit with anything after that was Bandage Girl with the empty launcher. After that, he was stuck, and feeling hopeless. They were getting closer and closer, and he could do nothing but get closer to the edge. But as a last resort, he decided he was going to go off the ledge. If he turned out okay at the bottom, then he may have enough time to escape, hopefully never to be seen again this time. Right before he did so, Meat Boy and Bandage Girl jumped into action to retrieve Nugget, while the others followed suit. Meat Boy held onto Nugget the moment he jumped, Bandage Girl held onto Meat Boy, and the others repeated. Within that moment, they had formed a living chain that had grabbed Nugget from Dr. Fetus’ grasp as he fell into the abyss. 

It felt blissfully unbelievable how Nugget was finally with them again, though Nugget was rather confused about where Dr. Fetus suddenly disappeared to. But that didn’t stop her from enjoying the hugs and kisses received from her parents. The squirrels, however, didn’t feel it was the end. They were on a mission to kill Dr. Fetus too. But after the couple paid attention to their concerns, they disagreed on it. Dr. Fetus simply wasn’t worth any more trouble; everyone should just go home, which they did. 

A month later, the now happy again couple found themselves thinking of something that their past selves would consider unthinkable. Nugget has noticeably changed since they had gotten her back, and surprisingly, they were all positive: She began to read, write, use the sign language, and even wrote simple math questions on a sheet of paper before answering them herself. And when she had returned home, they noticed a piece of paper she carried home with her. It was that same drawing she drew when the bunker had lost power, and they couldn’t believe she had managed to learn to write like that so quickly. On top of that, it was clear that she still loved her “uncle”, no matter how evil he may be. And all that was why they begun to consider the mad idea. What if they offered Dr. Fetus a proposition? What if they asked him if he wanted to babysit Nugget every once in a while? The couple and him may have their differences, but Nugget and him simply get along in a way they never expected. And Nugget made them consider the idea more when she managed to ask when she may see “uncle” again. 

So, with the two finally having made their decision, Meat Boy went out on his own to find Dr. Fetus. He felt unusually excited doing so, too, like they might finally tear down that wall of hatred and start anew. But the trip was more exhausting than he anticipated; he still didn’t have much a clue where the guy was, and the long trip back to the bunker (which was without power again) and other sites ran by him were in vain. Eventually, it neared evening, so he had to get back before Bandage Girl got worried. On the way back, a feeling of dread hit him as he passed by the distant metal cliff that Dr. Fetus fell from—and he just couldn’t help himself but to feed his urge to get closer. 

The dread became nearly unbearable, until he finally found something: a shattered glass jar, whose fragments sent sharp pieces of glass piled on the ground. One particularly sharp piece was covered in blood. What made his death so frightening to Meat Boy was that, well... 

The fall didn’t kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read this whole fic to the end, THANK YOU!
> 
> Also, I'm planning on making a new fanfic after this. I'm planning it on being a Binding of Isaac/Super Meat Boy crossover AU, which takes place after both games.


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